Category Archives: JavaScript
Emulating onhashchange without setInterval
There is one limitation that all of the major JavaScript browser history management plugins have to hack around: How to tell when there is a change to the location.hash? Sure, you can tell when you’re modifying the hash yourself, but what if the user hits the back/forward button? YUI’s History component and Really Simple History [...]
Posted in JavaScript Tagged Ajax, Back Button, History
Selecting XML Nodes with JavaScript (Peril of getElementsByTagName)
Parsing XML in the browser can be a tricky beast. There are many different wrong ways to do it, which can leave you cold and naked in a snowstorm if you're not careful. So, let's put on the metaphorical electric one-sie of standards based code and let the power of Edison heat our JavaScript code like the innards of a tauntaun.
Posted in JavaScript Tagged jQuery, XML, YUI
Javascript Objects are NOT JSON
The headline should more accurately read “Javascript Objects are not necessarily JSON.” But that waters it down a bit, don’t you think? I know this has been posted a few times before, but this is not something I knew until recently, and after learning it, have noticed quite a few other people doing it wrong [...]
Posted in JavaScript Tagged JSON
Surnamespacing
Everyone has a library. Everyone has their own utility classes and functions they're using in their own personal and contracted projects. And now that everyone has a blog too, they're all releasing their libraries as open source, using the commando underoo philosophy of wild, free, and unrestricted naming schemes for their code. Not anymore. Let's surnamespace.
Don’t Let the Door Hit You Onunload and Onbeforeunload
Many people attempt a last ditch effort to save page state in the browser by using the onunload or onbeforeunload events. This has been studied at great length by Patrick Hunlock, who uses the perhaps now common knowledge of using a Synchronous Ajax call to perform the page state save. Another use for the onbeforeunload [...]
Also posted in Interface Design, Web Browsers Tagged Ajax, Gmail, Opera, Undo
Rethinking JavaScript Grids and DataTables
In the world of front end engineering, one must consider the end-user of the interface first, and above all other things. The priorities should not start with development ease, nor external library preference. The priorities should start with the needs of the consumer of your end product. Evolution of your engineering skill is also a [...]
Also posted in Interface Design Tagged Conservative Design, Dojo, ExtJS, jQuery, linkedin, YUI
ALARMd 2 Beta, with Google Calendar Integration
Take a look: ALARMd 2 Beta Update: added Metric and Unit Circle time formats. I know, some of you are reading this and thinking to yourself — genital herpes is more appealing than yet another online alarm clock. But to that I say, congratulations, that’s one of the new features in ALARMd 2! Why did [...]
Also posted in Interface Design, Projects Tagged Alarmd, Google Calendar, jQuery, Youtube
DOMContentLoaded Inconsistencies (in Browsers and JavaScript Libraries)